Lepidophagy

The bucktooth tetra eats scales off other fishes

Lepidophagy is a specialised feeding behaviour in fish that involves eating the scales of other fish.[1] Lepidophagy is widespread, having evolved independently in at least five freshwater families and seven marine families.[2] A related feeding behavior among fish is pterygophagy: feeding on the fins of other fish.[3]

  1. ^ Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (eds.). "Glossary: Lepidophagy". FishBase. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  2. ^ Janovetz, Jeff (2005). "Functional morphology of feeding in the scale-eating specialist Catoprion mento" (PDF). The Journal of Experimental Biology. 208 (Pt 24): 4757–4768. doi:10.1242/jeb.01938. PMID 16326957. S2CID 15566769.
  3. ^ Lavoué, S.; Rabosky, D.L.; McIntyre, P.B.; Arcila, D.; Vari, R.P.; Nishida, M. (2017). "Trophic evolution in African citharinoid fishes (Teleostei: Characiformes) and the origin of intraordinal pterygophagy". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 113: 23–32. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.05.001. PMID 28478196.